Lesson Learned
by DemonFireFox
Summary: A look as to why there was such a shift from how Richard acted when he was Robin to how he acts now as Nightwing. "Why can't you be like the way you used to be?" "I grew up." (Bad summary I know but it is better than it sounds) Connor's POV
1. Chapter 1

"Is he going to be okay?" Beast Boy asked with a hint of guilt as I walked out of Med-Bay with Batgirl. I feel everyone looking at me.

"He will survive. The bullet missed his heart and didn't hit any vital organs. It was touch and go there for a while but he should make a full recovery." I said walking over to an empty seat by Jamie. "Someone is going to have to call Wally and Artemis." I sighed. Those two were not going to take this well. Then again no one from the original Young Justice team took it well when Nightwing got hurt. It was illogical but in all of our minds we still saw the thirteen year old boy who loved to terrorize the English language.

"I will do it." Megan said getting up and leaving the waiting room. I could tell just through her voice that she was not looking forward to that phone call.

"What wrong with her?" Jamie asked nodding to where Megan once was.

"She doesn't want to have to tell Wally what just happened." I said not making eye contact with any of them.

"Why? He and Arty aren't even apart of the team anymore. They should be happy that she would even bother to tell them." I quickly got to my feet and turned to glare at Bumble Bee. I had to control myself, getting angry would not solve anything.

"You don't understand." I growled.

"Then help them." Batgirl said. She sounded so maternal when she said that. I let out another sigh, all of the sudden I was envious of Megan.

"Before when Young Justice was just in its start Nightwing held the mantle of Robin. He was also the youngest on the team. It didn't take long for the team to become protective of him. Wally and Rob were best friends even before the team was formed so they had a very close bond. It doesn't matter that he is no longer on the team; he still wants constant updates on how Nightwing is. As you can see Nightwing has a little habit of getting himself into trouble. "I tensed when I heard Megan enter the room again. "How did they take it?" I asked.

"Wally is very upset. He and Artemis are on their way right now." Probably so that they could yell at him when he woke up. "Connor I am worried about him. I don't think he can stay out of 'the game', as he and Nightwing call it, if he isn't able to control his protective emotions."

"There isn't much we can do about it. We cannot control Wally's emotions for him." I was trying my hardest not to feel anything. I couldn't let myself slip into the same mode Wally would be in when he got here.

_Recognized Kid Flash B02 Artemis B06_

"Where Is He?" Wally basically yelled from the zeta tubes. He made his way with Arty over to us without any of us responding to his question. "Well?" He asked with frustration.

"He is in his usual room Wally." I said in a low and controlled voice.

"Calm down babe, Megan said that he was going to be fine. Us getting frustrated isn't going to help anything." Artemis said putting her hand on his arm. Wally sighed and let his muscles relax. We made eye contact holding our stare as a way of communication.

"Why does he do it?" All of us turned to face Beast Boy; the kid had tears in his eyes. "Why does he keep getting hurt?" Megan walked over and hugged her younger brother.

"He did it to protect you Gar." Robin said from his spot in the corner. Batgirl was standing by him with her hands on his shoulder. "He threw himself in front of you that way you did not get hurt. He would rather him be hurt than anybody else because he knows he can handle it." The kid may be the new Robin but he had not yet mastered the Bat trait of being able to hide his emotions completely. I heard the small quiver in his voice when he had said his original statement. I also was able to make out the light squeeze Batgirl gave him as a means of support.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get caught!" Beast Boy buried himself into Megan and the tears flowed even harder.

"That isn't what Robin meant." Artemis said. "He was just explaining that Nightwing knows that you are still new at this and he knows that you are going to make mistakes, so he purposely gets in the way that way you don't get hurt. He knows what it is like to still be getting used to the whole hero thing, so he doesn't want to add onto it with you being injured." That was the nice way of putting it. We all knew that Beast Boy screwed up. It was an honest accident but it still caused Nightwing to step in and get hurt instead.

"Was he shot?" Wally asked.

"In the chest but it missed all his vitals. It was a clean shot straight through. We recovered the shell casing and we are going to send it over to police for further evidence." Wally nodded his head and finally took the seat on the other side of me and let his head fall into his hands.

"He has to stop pulling this crap, I'm only 21 and I feel like I am too old for to be getting these phone calls." Jamie looked over to him with sympathy.

"How close are you two?" Jamie asked with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. Wally let out a small laugh and looked over to the boy.

"We have been friends since I was thirteen. To say we are just close is an understatement. After only being friends for about four months I started to introduce him to my friends as my little brother. I knew his secret ID before everyone else because he was mad at Batman and wanted to get back at him." Wally was smiling with his thoughts of Richard.

"He still comes over for dinner every Friday. They eat like pigs, tell stories, and play video games. One time just to prove a point Nightwing hacked into the Pentagon without being detected. The look on Wally's face was just plain priceless." Everyone had small smirks on their faces because none of us would put it past Richard to do that, well almost everyone.

"Really cause the Nightwing I know is so serious. All we do is train and prepare for the worst. I don't see him goofing around like that." Jamie said with a small pout on his face.

"That is because he is the leader now. Nightwing is responsible for all our lives and he is determined to keep us safe. He thinks that if we are all prepared for any situation then we are less likely to get hurt. Like Artemis said earlier, he is only concerned for our wellbeing." Megan said with a hopeful expression on her face.

"Well I would like to know what he was like before." Jamie crossed his arms and fell back into his chair.

"Believe me he could be extremely immature at points but at other times he acted like an adult. Most of the time though he was a kid, I think it was to remind all of us that we needed to have fun sometimes." Artemis said as she walked into the living room. "Well if you want to know what he was like you might want to follow. It isn't like much is going to happen if we all just sit there." Artemis called over her shoulder. All of us slowly got up and made our way to the couches. Artemis was looking through the videos and pulled out a VHS tape that didn't look too old. She put it into the player and then turned to all of us, "Here you go Jamie, now you get to see Nightwing when he was still Robin." The video began to play…

_Video_

_The camera showed Wally and Robin in their civies watching the television. "Will you boys turn around and say hi to the camera?" It was Megan's voice but you couldn't see her, she must have been filming. Both boys turned around and smiled toward the camera._

"_What's up Miss.M?" Robin said jumping over the side of the couch with a smirk on his face. _

"_I was doing research and learned that earth families have home movies so I decided to make one." Wally came up from behind Robin and tried to tackle him but Rob side stepped him in time and jumped on Wally when he fell to the ground. "What are two doing?" She asked. _

"_I'm teaching this little fart a lesson!" Wally said as he tried to roll on top of Robin only to be kicked in the stomach. _

"_Good luck Kid Klutz!" Robin yelled with a smile on his face. _

"_Oh dude you are so going down now!" Wally and him continued to wrestle and you could even hear Megan laughing in the background. _

"_What are those two doing?" Megan lifted the camera to show Artemis, Kaldur and I entering the room. "Hey BridBoy don't kill Kid Idiot."_

"_What's wrong Arty don't want me kicking your boyfriends butt?" Robin said with his tongue sticking out at her. _

"_HE IS NOT MY BOYFIREND!" Artemis yelled._

"_Yeah right dude like I could ever be desperate enough for her!" Wally shot up with a red face. It was clear that he was very embarrassed about the situation. _

"_Dude be honest with yourself, you already are that desperate." Wally charged Robin but he was able to jump in the air and land gracefully on a small ledge in the mountain. _

"_Get down here now!" Artemis yelled. _

"_Yeah man get your butt down here!" Wally said standing by her side._

"_Hey Connor do you think they sound like a married couple because I sure do." Robin was now sitting down laughing at them. _

"_I think Robin you are very high up and should get down from there. It could be very dangerous so up high." Megan said with obvious concern in her voice. _

"_Megs I am totally safe up here. Don't worry so much." Robin said getting up and scaling up the side of the mountain. _

"_Robin! That is dangerous stop!" Megan yelled after him._

"_I must agree with Megan. Robin you could get seriously injured if you carry on with this foolishness." Kaldur warned him. By now Robin was a good fifty feet above us and he had a huge smile on his face. It was actually kind of fun to see him so carefree again. Jamie was right, Nightwing was so serious. _

"_Let him do what he wants. If he falls that is his fault." The digital me said while rolling my eyes. _

"_I'm glad to know you care Supey." Robin said as he decided to just let go of the rock he was holding onto. All of the sudden you just see him falling, everyone's heart began to noticeably race. _

"_ROBIN!" Megan screamed. Immediately the me on the video used my super powers to jump as high as I could so I could catch him and absorb the blow. But once we were at the same level he dodged me and bounced off the cave walls doing flips and jumps until he finally landed on the ground. _

"_Not going to lie, that was awesome!" Robin said with a big grin on his face. _

"_DUDE! You just scared the crap out of us! So not cool!" Wally said turning his back to his best friend. Robin crossed his arms and sighed, in that time Wally spun around and said, "Okay maybe a little cool." _

"_Wally don't encourage him! He could have been killed!" Artemis yelled. _

"_But I wasn't." Robin argued. _

"_Maybe now is not the wisest time to be making a home movie." Kaldur said looking toward the camera. _

_End Video_

And just like that the screen went dark. It was so weird to remember that, I had almost forgotten it. It had been so long since Nightwing just decided to mess around and flip all over the place.

"Was he really like that?" Jamie asked.

"One day he decided that as long as no missions were given he would walk the entire day on his hands." Everybody laughed at the notion. "He did one hand pushups just to eat his cereal in the morning."

"That is so cool!" Beast Boy said.

"Is he like that around you Rob?" Jamie asked the bird in the back.

"As long as we aren't on missions yeah. But that is because he knows I can take care of myself." Robin was obviously still upset with Beast Boy's accident.

"Lay off of him Robin." All of us shot up and turned around to see Nightwing standing there in his pants and mask. His boots, gloves, and shirt were all taken off of him for surgery. There was a long bandage that was wrapped around his chest in the area where the bullet hit.

"Night. What are you doing up?" Robin said running over to his older brother. "How long have you been up?"

"Since I called Wally Kid Klutz in the home video." Nightwing said with a smirk.

"Why can't you be like that now?" Jamie asked. I will give the kid this, he has nerve.

"Be like what?" Nightwing asked with slight confusion.

"You know less…strict." Okay so maybe the kid was losing his nerve.

"I grew up." Richard responded as he walked forward to Wally and Artemis. "Although some people refuse to accept that fact." Artemis gave him a hug and even let a tear slip from her eye.

"We worry about you." She whispered to him.

"I know." He whispered back. "Don't."

"What does you growing up having anything to do with you being less fun?" Alright the nerve was back.

"Jamie let me ask you a question." But the kid was about to learn his place.

"Okay what."

"How many people have you held in your arms that were dying?" Megan gasped at the question. Normally Nightwing would ask less harsh questions when he was reminding people of their places.

"None. Why?" Jamie responded.

"If you had you would understand that growing up is your only option. Childish mistakes cause you to be the person in somebodies arms. I am determined not to let any of you be those people. My method may seem harsh and I might seem boring, but know it is for your own good," Nightwing sighed.

"Nightwing." Megan said.

"No." I interrupted her. He needed to say this.

"Jamie I gave up being the kid on that tape, so you wouldn't have to."

**A/N: The End. I know it wasn't that good but I was on a two hour car ride and needed something to do. **


	2. Chapter 2

_Previously _

_"Jamie I gave up being the kid on that tape, so you wouldn't have to."_

"Oh…I…um…sorry." Jamie said. It was clear that the boy had just now begun to grasp what Nightwing had just told all of us. I looked around and noticed that all of the new members, except for the Bats of course, were staring wide eyed at our leader.

It was then that I noticed a shift in the way that Dick was holding himself. He walked over to Jamie and put his hand on the younger boys shoulder; I could tell Jamie flinched the slightest and it was obvious that Nightwing caught it as well. "I'm not mad at you Jamie, I understand. I know I seem boring and strict, but I do that to protect you guys. Believe me I know what it is like to grow up in the hero world; and I know it is difficult but I would rather you have a hard time juggling my training with your social life rather than me having to bring you home in a body bag." I looked to see Barbara looking off into the distance with tears in her eyes, both of them must be thinking about Jason.

"But can't we still have fun? I know we have to be prepared, but why can't we be prepared and have fun?" I saw Nightwing taking steps to control his breathing while he was thinking over how to answer the question. _'He must still be hurt and trying to recover too quickly from the bullet wound.'_ I heard Megan's voice in my head. I turned to her and nodded to show her that I agreed. Wally and Artemis were also making eye contact so I assumed that they got the message as well.

"Do you really want me to answer that Jamie?" Nightwing asked.

"Yes."

"I am not trying to take away all types of fun; I am simply trying to keep you alive. What you do with your friends outside of training is not my concern and you can do as you wish, but when you are here in Mt. Justice then you are under my command and you are my responsibility. My job is to make sure that you have the skills necessary to fight and protect yourself, it is not to babysit and make sure you have a good time." With this Nightwing turned around and started to walk toward his room. Robin was quickly following behind him without a word to be said.

Looking over at Barbara she seemed exhausted. That is when it occurred to me that she had just returned from a mission a day earlier, had done her patrol around Gotha, and then was called in by Robin because of Nightwing's injury. It was clear that the girl needed some rest. "Batgirl, why don't you go home and get some rest. You deserve it." Humbly she bowed her head and smiled.

"Promise to take care of him for me?" Wally laughed at the fellow gingers comment. "I mean he is concerned with everyone else's wellbeing that he never thinks of his own."

Artemis walked over to the girl and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We will make sure that he is fine." She exchanged a side glance with her boyfriend and smiled. "Trust me; we will be making sure that he is actually taking care of himself before we even consider leaving."

Barbara laughed and made her way over to the zeta tube. "Oh and could you tell Robin that the Police Station is planning on throwing a surprise party for Nightwing and he is supposed to get him there without tipping him off." All of laughed because we knew that no one was going to be able to outright fool Nightwing, but it was amusing to think that someone would try.

"Will do." Wally said with a go to smile. Barbara gave a relieved sigh and walked through the zeta beam.

Once she was gone the original members of the team walked to the center of the room and Wally and I did a quick round of 'Rock, Paper, and Scissors'. I lost…stupid rock. How could it lose to something as flimsy as paper? To me the game made no sense. Still I knew what the loss meant and I started down the hall to Nightwing's room.

"Where are you going Connor?" Bumblebee asked me.

I heard Megan explain to them that I was going to talk to Nightwing and make sure that he was taking the pain medication that was waiting for him in the infirmary. Because of my super hearing I heard them ask her questions about: why did we played a game to see who did it, why Nightwing wouldn't take pain meds, and why I was doing it when Robin had clearly followed Nightwing to his room.

I didn't really feel like listening to Megan explain to these Freshmen why we did certain things around here. As far as I am concerned there are rules to different places that are unspoken that you just need to pick up on and either leave alone or do. This was one of those rules that they should just leave alone.

Clearly none of them knew Nightwing in any way, shape, or form on a personal level. That meant that none of them would know that he continually neglects himself as punishment for not saving his younger brother Jason from the Joker. They also wouldn't know that Tim was unsuited to comfort his brother on that subject because he never knew Jason. They also wouldn't even begin to understand how difficult it is for Wally and I (the only people besides Bruce and Alfred who he will talk to about the subject) to constantly pull out the emotions that Nightwing tries so hard to bury within himself. If they did know all of those things then they wouldn't even question my hesitance to knock on the door in front of me.

"Nightwing?" I said as my fist hit the door. "Open up." The door slid a third of the way open to reveal Tim's frowning face.

"Go away Connor." Tim said with a sharp voice.

"No." I returned his glare with one that told him if he didn't move I would break the door. He slowly moved his body and allowed the door to fully open.

I made my way into the room and went to the center bed. "Tim give us a minute. And not a literal minute."

"No, I'm not leaving."

"Tim it's okay." Robin looked to his older brother completely shocked. "It's only Connor, nothing is going to happen."

"No I'm not leaving you." It became a staring competition between the two siblings. I could have told Tim that he would never win but I found it amusing to see him try. "Fine, but only for ten minutes."

"Make it twenty." I said. The boy sighed but he left the room. In a way I think he wanted me to talk to his brother, but wanted to put on a show just to make it look like he didn't. Tim would be the type of person to do that.

"What do you want Connor?" I looked to Nightwing, now Richard, to see him forcing a smile.

"Making sure you take your medication. And before you even try I know you haven't taken them because they are still over on your desk sealed shut." The man sighed and then let his arms gives out so he could lie fully on the bed.

"Why do you always have to do this?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I said. "If you would take care of yourself then I wouldn't have to monitor you."

"You make it sound like you are my babysitter." I chuckled and walked over with his pills.

"Do you want some water?" In response to my question he took the pills from my hand and dry swallowed them. "I will take that as a no."

"Are we done now?" Nightwing asked.

"I still have eighteen minutes left." He rolled his eyes but I knew he was keeping track of the time as well.

"Then what do you want?" Dick's tone was a little harsher now.

"You don't deserve this." I said looking at the floor.

"Not this again." Dick sounded exasperated. "Connor we don't have to talk about this."

"Yes we do."

"No we don't! There is nothing in that situation that reminded me of Jason! I didn't throw myself in front of Beast Boy to punish myself; I did it because with the trajectory it was going it would have killed him! So you can just back off." Anger was good; it was showing that he was at least feeling something.

"Then what about the question you asked Jamie?" Dick's eyes widened on slightly at my question. I bet he was hoping that I didn't bring that part of the night up.

"I was reminding him of his place on the team. He questioned my authority so I questioned his experience. It wasn't a big deal." Maybe it wasn't a big deal to him but it was a really big deal to me. Though I thought that Nightwing was right to real Jamie back in, the question still stood out to me as a strange method.

"I understand, but the question you posed to him sounded very much like what happened to Jason." Dick flinched and turned to face the wall opposite of me. "When Batman brought him home you held Jason in your arms didn't you? He may not having been physically dying but you still had to deal with the trauma"

"What is your point?" Dick asked.

"That you are still punishing yourself for Jason. After his death you decided you could never allow yourself to joke around about younger teammates again. You detached yourself in a way to show them that you were the leader and they are your subornments. The only reason you don't treat Robin that way is because Batman basically forced you into bonding with the kid! If he didn't then I bet you would see the kid as just another soldier. Am I right? Because Jason was a good soldier the rest of them have to be too, right?" I could see Richard tense, each and every one of his muscles tightened. He was angry but he was mostly sad. He was still grieving the loss of his little brother. It was a hurt that he felt would never go away.

"Shut up Connor. You don't know anything." Pure blue eyes turned to look at me, but now they seemed more like daggers.

"I know more than you think."

"I don't care. I don't care what you think about what I said or what you thought that it meant. I told you that it was only meant to put Jamie back into his place! And you know what; maybe it isn't a bad thing that I treat them like soldiers? Maybe it is for the best because then they are not going to goof around and get killed! Ever think that I am doing that because it is for the best?" He took a break from his rant that way he could sit up. "Of course not! The great Connor who understands all thinks it is wrong, so I must be insane!"

"I never said that."

"You might as well have." There was a look of betrayal in his eyes. "You and Wally always seem to agree and that is what he thinks."

"Wally is only worried about you. He just wants to,"

"To protect me?" Richard interrupted me. "Well last time I checked he is on the side lines, so if he wants to protect me then he can get his butt on the field. Anyway I don't need protection, I manage just fine."

"He loves you Dick. You're basically his little brother and he wants you to be safe." Richard turned his head to look at the corner of the room. "And you sort of have a record of getting hurt, which means that you may need to be taken care of every once and a while."

"Whatever."

"No. No whatever's Dick!" He turned to look at me with shocked eyes. "We are not doing this tonight. I am going to tell you something and you are going to understand it. Got it?" He nodded his head. "This team cares about you, a lot. No one wants you to get hurt or even worse. Tonight Beast Boy was in tears and Robin was going crazy, all because you got shot. Now both of us know that you couldn't have done anything else in this situation, but there are others that you have gotten hurt instead of going the safer route. Another thing we both know is that you do it because you are still angry with yourself because of Jason's death. I'm sorry to tell you this Dick but what you are doing is stupid and reckless. You told Blue and the others that you grew up so they could stay kids and be safe, yet you are acting like a small child."

"You don't understand!"

"Don't understand what? What it is like to not know whether or not the boy you see as a younger brother is alive or dead? What it is like to sit there worrying for hours on end until you finally get the news? And once they tell you then you are wishing they never said anything. Is that what I don't understand? Because if you think that then you are completely blind, because I feel that way on every mission that I don't accompany you on. Wally, Artemis, Megan, and I all feel that way about you Dick, so don't you tell me that I don't understand." When I looked at him after basically lecturing him to death I saw the slightest evidence of tears building up in his eyes. "I'm sorry I yelled at you Dick, but I just hate seeing you hurt and not taking care of yourself properly."

"Twenty minutes are up." I turned to see Tim entering the room.

I got off the bed I never realized I was sitting on and walked over to Robin. "Make sure he gets some sleep." I whispered into Robin's ear. And then I left.

He may have grown up, but he still was a child. It only showed when he was vulnerable but it was there none the less. I just hope that one day he would realize that he had friends that were willing to take care of him when he was a kid.

But since he is a Bat I don't think that will happen until we finally decide to pound it into that thick skull of his.

**A/N: There you guys go! I worked really hard on this chapter so I hope that it is good! I am leaving for Costa Rica with my family tomorrow so I felt like I needed to update a story and I chose this one! Hope you like it and please review!**


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